


Everlasting

by masadora



Category: Tales of Series, Tales of Zestiria
Genre: (sort of? canon was pretty vague about it...but anyways.), Canon Divergence, M/M, star-crossed lovers with different lifespans kind of thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 01:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9049204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masadora/pseuds/masadora
Summary: The land is purified. Sorey wakes up again, but he wakes up as a human.And humans change, in a way that seraphs do not.





	

The floor crumbled under his feet without any sort of warning. Decades upon centuries of travelling alone had granted him experience and Mikleo knew how to react to ensure his own safety, but before he can even begin to go through the motions, something closed firmly around his wrist.

He hung precariously over the edge of a long fall, but it all seemed of minor importance when Mikleo looked towards the hand holding him up, and saw painfully familiar feathers on that glove. Then, further above – an even more painfully familiar silhouette.

Now, after so many years? Mikleo almost didn’t dare think about it, but his heart was already trying to beat out of his chest and a cluster of emotions were swelling up, unbidden. He couldn’t quite stop the way his eyes had widened hopefully as he was pulled back onto solid ground again.

“Wow! I got you just in time, huh?”

And if the unmistakable voice wasn't already proof enough, sunlight also streamed in through the cracked ceiling and illuminated the figure. Those bright green eyes, tousled brown hair, even the feathered earrings – there was no room for doubt.

 _“Sorey,”_ Mikleo choked out, and even just saying the name left him reeling with emotion as he hadn’t been able to call out to him in so long. “Sorey, it’s really you…!”

“It’s me,” Sorey said back to him, green eyes warm with affection as he reached out to cup Mikleo’s face. It isn’t until he wiped a thumb across his cheek that Mikleo realized he was crying. Smiling apologetically, Sorey leaned forwards and gently pressed their foreheads together. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting so long.”

A strangled sob bubbled up in the back of Mikleo’s throat and he lunged forwards, throwing both arms around Sorey and holding him as close as possible. Sorey’s hands came up to cradle him close as well, and for several moments they simply sat in the ruins and held tightly onto each other.

It felt almost surreal, and some part of Mikleo was almost afraid that if he even loosened his grip just slightly, Sorey would disappear and he’d wake up to find that it was yet another wishful dream. But when he finally got a hold of himself and pulled back slightly, just enough to look at Sorey’s face, Sorey just smiled patiently in return. 

He really was here again.

“Welcome back,” Mikleo whispered, and his lips curved up into a tremulous smile. Then, with a small chuckle, “You haven’t changed at all.”

“I haven’t, but you have! You’ve gotten so tall, and your hair…” Sorey beamed back, one hand drifting to touch the long white strands framing Mikleo’s face. Then, in a softer voice. “But the minute I saw a figure standing in this room, Mikleo…I knew it was you.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sorey really hadn’t changed at all.  


He was still the exact same state as when he’d gone to sleep in the first place, even though several hundred years have already passed. Rose and Alisha had passed away, long time ago, but Sorey woke up from his sleep completely untouched by time.

Untouched by time, and…completely human.

Mikleo didn’t think much of it at first, swept up in the happiness and euphoria of having Sorey returned to him after so many centuries of waiting. There was so much to see, so much to do; he delighted in showing Sorey the accomplishments humans and seraphs have created together during this time, recounting all the history that Sorey had missed and exploring new places with him. The reunion with Lailah, Edna and Zaveid had also been a joyful one as well. 

For a while, it seemed that all was right in the world. 

Then, Sorey began to change.

It’s the sort of subtle, gradual sort of change that all humans naturally go through when they age. Humans tended not to notice it, because they aged right alongside each other. Seraphs tended not to notice it either, because they rarely stayed long and consistently enough with the same human to notice.

But Mikleo noticed. He remembered the very same things happening to Alisha and Rose, and how both of them changed while he remained the same. How, even as he stood by their gravestones to pay his respects, his appearance didn’t appear to have even aged a single day from when he first met them.

Thinking of this, his heart became seized with a terrifying and icy fear. Sorey had woken up again as a human. Would the same thing happen to him?

…That couldn’t happen. He’d just gotten Sorey back.

They continued on, and Mikleo did his best to cast the unpleasant thoughts from his mind. But as years passed, it was impossible to truly ignore.

The laugh lines and crows’ feet at the edge of Sorey’s eyes was clearly a product of years well spent pursuing his passions in this wonderful world where seraphs and humans coexisted, just as he always dreamed of. But Mikleo also couldn’t deny that Sorey had gotten much older. When they first reunited, Sorey had laughed about how tall Mikleo had gotten, how Mikleo seemed to have grown up during the time he’d been gone and looked several years older than him. But now, that’s changed again.

Sorey was the one who looked older now, and not by just a few years. Slowly, his rich brown hair was losing his luster and more wrinkles were appearing on his skin.

Sorey was the one changing now. Mikleo stayed static, ethereally young and beautiful as the day they’d reunited.

It wasn’t only the changes in appearance, either. Mikleo was keenly aware that Sorey grew tired more easily now, and that they couldn’t camp out easily in the bitter cold like they did before. Sorey’s reflexes were slower, and tasks that he wouldn’t even bat an eye at in his youth now took a toll on him.

Sometimes his joints hurt, too. Mikleo’s healing artes found a new purpose as he sought to tweak them in order to bring Sorey comfort when his joints ached, or when he got unexplained headaches. No longer were his artes aimed at healing wounds like when they were younger. Mikleo’s most important targets became the persistent back pains that plagued Sorey, or the way he felt too stiff in the morning.

He felt despairingly helpless, sometimes. No matter how much effort Mikleo poured into his artes, how much he consulted with the other seraphs for advice and improvement, his artes only seemed capable of sometimes easing Sorey’s pain and it never, never took it away completely. The power that he'd gained over the years, the fine control that left many other seraphs admiring his skill; none of that mattered in the face of time itself.

Year after year, Sorey grew older. And Mikleo couldn’t do anything to stop that.

Eventually, travelling frequently became out of the question too. They returned to Elysia to spend the winter, to the small stone house that had served as their childhood home.

“Sorry you had to do that for me,” Sorey said one evening. 

Mikleo had just gotten a fire going at the hearth, and was now boiling a pot of water for stew while preparing other parts of their dinner. “Hm?” his brows furrowed. “What for?”

“You had to collect the wood, the water, the…everything, while I’m sitting here waiting.” Sorey elaborated with a wry smile. “Sorry I couldn’t help.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Mikleo said, turning back to the stew. “You don’t need to apologize for that.”

It was too cold outside. Going out to forage for firewood, to hunt and gather herbs in this weather…Sorey’s aging body couldn’t possibly handle it. The vicious cough that had bedridden him for weeks last year would return. Even in remarkably good weather, going out and hunting like he used to would be too much. Mikleo found himself doing more and more now, out of necessity, but he didn’t mind in the slightest. It wasn’t a chore.

It was for Sorey, after all. Sorey was still with him, and that was enough.

His heart was still heavy long after their meal was finished, and they settled by the fire afterwards while a storm stirred outside. In Sorey’s hands, he held a well-worn but beloved copy of the Celestial Record. There were new editions of that book now, with personal contributions by Mikleo and the other seraphs as they recorded the new chapters of history. Sorey himself had gotten to add new sections after waking up and exploring the world as it was.

But the copy in Sorey’s hands now was the original one that they’d grown up reading, and it held a precious note of nostalgia that others couldn’t compare to. 

Sorey needed glasses to see the words clearly, now, but his voice was as warm as ever as he read aloud from the familiar passages. Mikleo closed his eyes, leaning against Sorey’s side and committing the moment to memory.

It didn’t matter to him if Sorey couldn’t move as easily as before, or if their routines needed to change. He was simply content living out everyday at Sorey’s side – smiling with him, laughing, discussing new ideas…all he wanted was for the two of them to stay together.

Absorbed in his own thoughts, he didn’t notice at first when Sorey finished reading the chapter and didn’t continue. He didn’t notice until Sorey moved to close the book, clasping the pages shut.

“Mikleo,” Sorey’s tone was calm and tranquil as he gazes into the flickering hearth. “I don’t think I ever thanked you for waiting for me.”

“…What are you talking about? You don’t need to thank me for that.” Mikleo sat up a little straighter. “I had faith that you would come back, of course I would wait.” 

Some kind of emotion was twisting in the pit of his stomach at the memory (it really wasn’t so long ago that they’d reunited, when Sorey was so young and he thought they had an eternity before them now), an emotion he couldn’t describe. “I had to show you this world…the way our dream finally came true.”

Sorey hummed. “It’s a beautiful place, now. Faith in the seraphim is stronger than I’ve ever seen, and there are so many Shepherds again.”

“And they all follow your example – the Blessed Shepherd Sorey, known in history to be the one who brought the Age of Chaos to an end,” Mikleo replied with a small grin, grateful for the shift in topics. “How did it feel to explore your own ruins?”

“I definitely didn’t expect that!” Sorey agreed with a chuckle. “Even saying that now is still weird. _My ruins_ …with all those statues of me that I couldn’t even recognize.”

“Not all of them are known for historical accuracy, after all,” Mikleo answered. They both laughed. The atmosphere was light.

But this wasn’t why Sorey had brought up the topic of waiting. After a moment, he spoke again.

“I’m really happy that you waited for me, Mikleo, and that I could spend all this time with you again after waking up. But…I wouldn’t ask you to wait for me again.”

Mikleo stiffened. He didn't ask for what Sorey was talking about, because he knew. They both knew.

Sorey took his hand, and it’s a startling kind of contrast – Mikleo’s fingers were slender, with pale and unblemished skin. Sorey’s hand was little more than skin and bones, full of wrinkles and frail with age. 

Mikleo looked away, his throat tight. “I’ve waited seven hundred twenty-five years, Sorey.” His voice came out admirably steady, but very quiet. “Waiting a little longer…that’s nothing to me. As long as I know, it’s fine.”

But it’s impossible to know for sure whether Sorey will come back again when he dies. They discovered, long time ago, in the Fire Shrine of Igraine that it was indeed possible for humans to be reborn as seraphs – but there was no clear condition, no certain pattern, and the reincarnation didn’t seem like it could be controlled. 

The reality neither wanted to say out loud, was that there was no way to guarantee if Sorey could ever come back again when he inevitably died as a human. 

But the alternative was that Mikleo would lose him again, for good. The concept that he would only have Sorey back for a handful of years, after hundreds of years of waiting-? Mikleo couldn’t accept that, he _wouldn’t._ Sorey was saying that he would be alright if Mikleo moved on after his death – but Mikleo knew that wasn't possible, even if he tried.

“I’ll definitely wait for you,” Mikleo said when Sorey didn’t reply. He took a deep breath, speaking with a sort of forced bravado. “And if you take too long, I won’t make you vanilla ice cream again for a year.”

There’s a long pause, before Sorey finally turned towards him again. For a moment, Mikleo wasn’t sure how Sorey would react – but then the former Shepherd put a hand to his chest in mock horror, raising his eyebrows. “A year? Mikleo, that’s cruel!”

“You kept me waiting quite a while already, the first time round!”

“But still, a year? …I suppose that’s fair,” Sorey laughed quietly, and squeezed his hand. “Then…I know I can’t afford to keep you waiting.”

Mikleo bit his lip and squeezed back. “That’s right. You have to come back.”

_A promise._

“If Mikleo is waiting, then I’ll find a way.” Sorey closed his eyes and leaned in, very gently. “I’ll absolutely find a way to return to you, no matter what.”

_Sealed with a kiss. ___

~*~*~*~*~*~

He hadn’t understood at first, the way some long-lived seraphs looked at individual human lives with a sense of something resembling detachment. It wasn’t necessarily cruel. An old seraph once told him that it couldn't be helped, since human lives were simply much too short – a lifetime for one human would feel fleeting for a seraph.

Mikleo understood that now.

In the forests of Elysia, close to the Mt. Mabinogio ruins, he erected a small grave. Humans in Ladylake had wanted to conduct a grand state funeral for the Blessed Shepherd that had such a prominent role in history, but that didn’t feel fitting. Here, in the privacy of their home, surrounded by the glades and mountains where they spent their youths…it felt like a more appropriate resting place.

His reunion with Sorey was seventy-seven years ago. Ninety-four marked Sorey as a remarkably long lived human, but the truth was that they’d only had less than a century together, and such a period of time passed remarkably quickly for Mikleo. 

“Sorey,” his voice shook, despite his best efforts, and no matter how much he blinked tears still slid down his cheeks. Nevertheless, Mikleo kept speaking. “Sorey, I have to leave now. There are areas in the Pitzerback Wetlands that flood every year – we went to help them once, do you remember? The flood was destructive this year, so I’m going to help the settlement there.”

A pause. The wind rustled, and birds sung overhead.

“I don’t know where I’ll go after that, but I’ll return to visit you again sometime,” Mikleo continued, voice cracking. “If you come back and you don’t find me here…I’m sure you’ll be able to find me again, no matter where I am. You did that perfectly the first time.”

It was difficult to get the words out, and Mikleo almost faltered – but he steadied himself again, wiping at his eyes and swallowing the lump in his throat. He needed to have faith in Sorey, in his promise.

“So…I’ll be waiting for you, alright?”

**Author's Note:**

> A Tales of Secret Santa present for tumblr user **[luzrov](http://www.luzrov.tumblr.com)**! I hope you like this, I know you said you like sad fanfics but I didn't have the heart to execute this idea in complete tragedy because somehow, that's too much for me when it comes to sormik and the game epilogue. So I left the ending ambiguous, up to the reader's interpretation! I hope you like it  <3
> 
> If you enjoyed this piece, please leave a kudos or comment! Let me know what you think. I'm on tumblr at **[jadeluminescence](http://www.jadeluminescence.tumblr.com)** if anyone would like to talk~


End file.
